| | | | If you haven't heard, BMF is an LGBTQ-founded agency. Pride is our own story. Of celebrating and being, at our very core, who we truly are. And in doing so, we've celebrated our story with so many queer friends, family, allies, clients, colleagues, gay icons, tastemakers, and audiences around the world. From time to time, a brand is involved. |
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| To say we're simply proud would be the understatement of our life. Pride is what we bring to our communities and to our clients and to ourselves: every. fucking. day. Pride is personal for BMF. (BTW, we're an NGLCC-certified agency. That's the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in case you're not familiar with the acronym.) |
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| In this issue of The Pulse, we're celebrating the range of long-overdue stories that traditional platforms, and even ways of thinking about the queer or LGBTQ+ or human experience, hadn't allowed until now. “The community” has never been one thing, and what’s interesting now reflects that. That doesn't mean we can't also have a great dance party with Madonna and drag queens, to meet the moment the way we always have. |
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| | Pulse Check: Emerging Queer Tastemakers To Watch |
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| Queer creators are shaping culture across music, fashion, film, and content, building careers that refuse to sit in one lane. Their visibility is reshaping the industries they enter, on their own terms and at their own pace. For brands, this is the moment to engage with intention. We're highlighting the voices defining what's next for culture. ➔ |
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| | BMF takes pride in the LGBTQ+ programs we've produced over the years. Take a trip down memory lane with a look back at some of our favorites. ➔ |
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| BMF Connects With Susanne Bartsch |
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| Few have shaped New York nightlife quite like Susanne Bartsch. For decades, the Swiss-born icon has created spaces where culture, creativity, self-expression, and community collide. As Pride Month begins, she and BMF Founding Partner Brian Feit caught up to talk about the city’s magic, the evolution of queer culture, what makes a truly great event, and why authenticity remains the ultimate superpower. Read here. ➔ |
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| | The New + The NoteworthyEverything Worth Doing/Seeing/Getting/Booking |
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| Photos via New York Marriott Marquis / Jessica Irani | Unsplash |
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| Photos via Hilton / Jakob Owens | Unsplash |
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| Yesterday, BMF client Hilton's Arizona Biltmore kicked off its first Pride Party Weekend from June 11–14, turning the Frank Lloyd Wright–inspired desert icon into a poolside Pride playground. The package starts at $250/night and includes everything from sun-soaked afternoons at Saguaro Pool to curated dining, wellness, and nightlife experiences throughout the resort to enjoy with a group or solo. Celebrate and book here. ➔ |
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| Photo via Dalila Dalprat | Pexels |
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| Taking a break from his iconic hosting role on The Traitors, Alan Cumming is voicing Evil Bullseye in Toy Story 5, a corrupted version of Woody's loyal horse who shows up in an imagined sequence. It's a cameo, but it's also Pixar handing one of culture's most recognizable queer voices a cult-favorite character in a film built around what happens when childhood gets warped. In theaters June 19. Get tickets here. ➔ |
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| Photos via Daniel James / Fauzan Saari | Unsplash |
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| LA stacks two of the year's biggest weekends back to back: the FIFA World Cup at SoFi today, June 12, while LA Pride hits Hollywood Blvd on June 14. Threading the needle is Pride House LA/WeHo, a four-day takeover at Beaches Tropicana from June 11–14 with a USA vs. Paraguay watch party, the first Gay MLS Players Reunion, and a Gay Games sendoff. Think of it as a soft launch for 2028, when Pride House will scale to a 17-day festival timed to the LA Olympics. Get details here. ➔ |
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| Photo via Kyle Head | Unsplash |
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| Photo via Hsingyun Chao | Unsplash |
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| For those of us still “somewhere in Northern Italy,” Sony is putting Call Me By Your Name back exclusively in AMC theaters June 12–18, anchoring a Pride-themed repertory theatre run that includes Moonlight and Paris Is Burning. A cryptic teaser earlier this week sent fans into sequel-speculation overdrive, which was almost certainly the point. Catalog reissues are one of the smartest tools studios have right now, and Sony sure knows how to work theirs. Find screenings here. ➔ |
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| Photo via @troyesivan | Instagram, @addisonraee | TikTok, @madonna | X & @filmupdates | X |
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| Conner Ives' “Protect the Dolls” tee debuted around his AW25 show and has since moved 17,000+ units. Through January 2026, 100% of profits went to Trans Lifeline, raising £446K+. As of February 2026, every dollar now goes to Not A Phase, a UK-based trans-led charity supporting 5,000+ service users across the UK. Join the likes of Pedro Pascal, Charli XCX, Madonna, Troye Sivan, and Tilda Swinton, and pick yours up here. ➔ |
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| | The FrequencyWhat We’re Listening To Now. |
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| | We've been on a Confessions on a Dance Floor loop in prep for the sequel. Twenty-one years later, the 2005 classic still plays like one unbroken set, no skips, no ballads; just disco, deep house, and the queer clubs that built her. "Hung Up" remains the opener that won't quit, "Get Together" is the underrated deep cut, and "Sorry" obviously still belongs on every Pride playlist. Confessions II lands July 3 with Stuart Price back at the boards. Revisit the original here. ➔ |
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| | That’s Fire By Sir Candle Man 🔥 |
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| Photo via ARQUISTE Parfumeur |
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| | The DestinationNow Departing: Amsterdam |
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| Photo via Ari Dinar | Unsplash |
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| For this edition of The Pulse, we take a look at the first city in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. As host of WorldPride for the first time this year, this is the perfect time to book that flight you’ve been putting off. We’ve gathered our pick of the places to best support your Amsterdam travels during Pride month and beyond. ➔ |
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| | | | Let’s chat about how we can keep your brand in tune with the pulse of culture. |
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| | The SublimeCreators, Innovators, And Cool $#!+ You Should Know About. |
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| Photo via Grindr | YouTube |
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| | Pope Leo XIV is one year into the role and already on Vogue's 55 Best Dressed list. The man behind the look is Filippo Sorcinelli, the openly gay Italian designer who has been crafting papal vestments for over two decades, dressing Benedict, Francis, and now Leo. Hand-embroidered robes can take 1,000 hours and run $7,500+. His side hustle? A fragrance line with scents called Slightly B!tch, Popper Pop, and Cruising Area. Discover more on the gay tatted muscle daddy doing the Lord's work, here. ➔ |
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| | South Korean filmmaker Park Joon-ho's 2025 debut feature 3670 is being called a landmark in queer Korean cinema, following a gay North Korean defector finding community in Seoul's queer scene. Shot on location in a country where 56% still consider homosexuality “morally unacceptable,” in real bars and venues across Jongno and Itaewon, the film doubles as a preservation effort for a cultural lens rarely captured on screen, especially in this light. Read what audiences loved about the film on Letterboxd here. ➔ |
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| | Pro wrestler Gisele Shaw made National Wrestling Alliance history, beating Tiffany Nieves at the 2026 Crockett Cup on May 1, ending Nieves' record-setting 426-day reign with her signature knee strike to claim the NWA World Women's Television Title. The win makes Shaw the first out trans woman to hold any championship in the NWA's 77-year history, in an industry where queer and trans wrestlers have historically been afterthoughts at best, targets at worst. Labeled "The Quintessential Era," watch here. ➔ |
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| | For some hopecore, TIME named Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, to its annual global list of “The 100 Most Influential People.” The trans-identifying attorney has spent three decades arguing landmark civil rights cases, and is currently lead counsel on Talbott v. USA, representing trans service members fighting Trump's reinstated military ban. Minter framed the recognition less as a personal milestone and more as a signal that the gravity of the moment is finally registering at the mainstream level. Read more here. ➔ |
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| Photo via Dominic Kurniawan Suryaputra | Unsplash |
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| Australia's 2026 Census will ask about sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time, after the government reversed a 2024 decision to leave the questions out. The country is finally counting a population it already had and addressing the long-standing gaps that have made it impossible to track community size, health needs, and service demand at scale. Data lands June 2027, but you can read more about the policy’s growing impact here. ➔ |
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| Photos via Sourcebooks Casablanca, Adobe Stock |
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Move over, Heated Rivalry… A24 UK optioned Alexis Hall's Boyfriend Material in April, locking in one of BookTok's most-screamed-about gay romance novels for adaptation, with an enemies-to-lovers arc, fake dating, and all set against London’s backdrop. The studio that built indie cool into a brand sees where the next wave of streaming is headed, and we couldn’t be more excited to follow the journey. Pick up the book that’s hard to put down here. ➔ |
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| | The Week in ReviewICYMI... |
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| Travel Great LGBTQ+ Pride Events For 2026 ➔ Grindr Reveals Top Destinations For Queer Travel In 2026 ➔ The Gayest Places In New York, According To The Queer Culturati ➔ FIFA World Cup Brings Seattle To Global Stage During Pride Month ➔
Fashion & Beauty The Best Pride Month Fashion Collections To Shop This June ➔ How Queer Clubbing Has Shaped Fashion As We Know It ➔ Marc Jacobs Beauty Is Back & Full Of Whimsy ➔ Olive Young’s US Expansion Could Redefine Beauty Retail Beyond K-Beauty ➔
Entertainment Hollywood Ghosts The Croisette, Queer Cinema Owns It And AI Crashes The Party: Five Takeaways From Cannes 2026 ➔ Charli XCX Announces New Album, 'Music, Fashion, Film ➔ Wynwood Pride Announces Four-Weekend 2026 Lineup ➔ Generational Concert Spending Trends: What Entertainment Brands Should Know➔
Technology Anthropic Confidentially Files For What Could Be The Largest IPO Ever ➔ Why Earned Media Just Became The Most Important AI Strategy ➔ Nvidia Announces New AI Chip For Personal Computers ➔ How Issa Rae Built TikTok’s First Micro-Drama Hit ➔
Media The Heated Rivalry Universe Just Got Even Hotter and Gayer ➔ A Forgotten Black Queer Hollywood Is The Star Of This New Novel ➔ James Murdoch, Intent On ‘Thoughtful Journalism,’ Buys Half Of Vox Media ➔ As Feeds Become Entertainment Hubs, Marketers Rethink Social’s Role ➔
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